For each exotic animal that makes it from wild to cage, how many others die? by @sivasothi

A man tried to smuggle 302 birds from Johor to Singapore. Three-quarters of the animals died. Every animal captured and put in a cage is a survivor of untold deaths. I learnt about this in the early 90′s when reading John Nichol’s excellent book, “The Animal Smugglers ” and it made me even less enamoured (if possible) with the cage bird trade. Animal smuggling has been on the rise in Singapore . I hope that news of this $18,000 fine from an original $230 purchase will act as a deterrent to other would be miscreants. There are bigger fish to fry but this is a start. Thanks to our ICA officers at Woodlands Checkpoint for detecting this and for AVA in a successful prosecution. The fine of $18,000 was $8,000 for bringing birds in without an AVA licence, $5,000 for causing unnecessary suffering and $5,000 for not providing the birds with food and water. As in everything else, t...